'  vvi  \6e  ; 


IS  to 


MENTAL 

ASSASSINATION 


OR 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

k  Physical  Intellectual,  Moral  and  Spiritual  Peril 

.  BY 

I.  M.  HALDEMAN,  D.D. 

Pastor  First  Baptist  Church 
K«w  York  Ct? 


TEN  CENTS 


SECOND  THOUSAND 


CHARLES  C.  COOK 
150  Nassau  Street,  New  York 

1910 


y 


Mental  Assassination 

OR 

CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

A  Physical,  Intellectual,  Moral  and 
Spiritual  Peril 


BY 

1.  M.  HALDEMAN,  D.D. 

Pastor  First  Baptist  Church 
New  York  City 


TEN  CENTS 


New  York 
CHARLES  C.  COOK 
>9io 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Mental  Assassination 

By  I.  M.  HALDEMAN,  D.D. 

Pastor  First  Baptist  Church 
New  Yorfc  City 


Recently,  the  words  “Mental  Assassination” 
have  been  reported  in  the  daily  journals  and 
repeated  in  conversation  from  one  end  of  the 
country  to  the  other. 

Assassination ! 

That  is  an  ugly  word.  It  brings  a  thrill, 
a  shiver.  It  has  in  itself  the  power  to  depict 
a  scene. 

It  is  night.  A  figure  comes  gliding  down 
through  the  shadows  of  the  street.  It  stops 
and  contemplates  a  certain  house.  Then  it 
moves  with  stealthy  step  to  the  rear  of  the; 
building.  A  window  is  softly  opened.  Now 
the  figure  is  standing  inside  the  dining  room. 
The  dark  lantern  is  lit.  A  subdued  ray  shows 
the  gleam  of  something  steel-like  in  the  man’s 
hand.  His  feet  are  shod  with  slippers.  He 
finds  the  stairs.  He  goes  up  the  steps  with  a 
tread  as  light  and  noiseless  as  a  thirsty  tiger 
seeking  its  prey.  He  enters  the  sleeping  room. 


4 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


The  long,  regular  breathing  tells  that  the 
owner  of  the  house  is  deep  in  sleep.  The 
light  from  the  lantern  is  turned  on  enough  to 
show  the  location  of  the  sleeper’s  heart. 
There  is  a  quick  down-stroke,  a  strange  thud, 
as  when  a  knife  strikes  human  flesh — a  moan 
— and  the  hideous  thing  vanishes  from  the 
room — gathers  its  booty  and  disappears  as  it 
came.  The  next  morning  the  streets  are  ring¬ 
ing  with  the  newsboy’s  cry,  “Man  murdered. 
Man  assassinated.” 

But  this  word  “assassination”  is  qualified. 
It  is  not  assassination  alone  but,  “Mental” 
assassination.  The  qualificative  does  not  mod¬ 
ify  the  force  of  the  word,  it  intensifies  it.  It 
does  not  take  away  the  fact  of  death,  it  makes 
it  all  the  more  terrible.  It  announces  a  new 
instrumentality,  it  reveals  a  sure  and  subtle 
skill.  The  new  instrumentality  is  mind.  It  is 
assassination  produced  by  the  operation  of 
mind  upon  mind.  Mental  power  is  brought  to 
bear  upon  another  till  the  personality  of  that 
other  is  affected,  the  will  power  and  the  de¬ 
cision  paralyzed.  The  person  so  affected  can¬ 
not  walk  down  stairs  without  risk  of  falling  or 
stumbling,  without  danger  to  life  or  limb,  can¬ 
not  cross  a  street  or  get  on  a  car  without  im¬ 
minent  peril.  The  nervous  system  yields  to 
the  strain.  It  grows  weak,  fear  becomes  a 
torment,  the  mental  pressure  is  terrific,  there 
is  a  collapse,  and  the  victim  dies — has  been 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


5 


assassinated,  killed,  murdered,  just  as  much 
as  though  stabbed  to  death  by  a  knife  in  the 
murderer’s  hand. 

This  is  mental  assassination ! 

Is  such  a  thing  possible? 

It  is  said  to  be  possible.  It  is  said  to  be 
actually  true. 

A  particular  person,  a  young  married 
woman,  at  her  home  one  night,  felt  a  strange, 
cold,  icy  blast  blowing  upon  her,  chilling  her 
to  the  very  heart.  She  plunged  into  hot  baths, 
but  could  not  arrest  the  icy  chill.  She  under¬ 
stood  what  it  was.  A  person  she  knew  well, 
at  that  time  distant  many  miles  from  her,  one 
who  had  been  her  teacher  in  mental  culture, 
in  spite  of  the  great  distance  that  separated 
them,  was  now  exercising  malicious  animal 
magnetism,  was  sending  mental  death  waves 
upon  her.  She  felt  herself  being  paralyzed, 
upon  the  very  threshold  of  death.  She  took 
up  her  New  Testament  and  tried  to  read  it 
as  an  antidote  to  this  mental  assault.  At  that 
moment  her  husband  came  in.  He  was  the 
picture  of  terror,  every  nerve  was  unstrung. 
In  getting  off  the  train  he  barely  escaped  a 
fatal  accident.  He  felt  he  was  being  pursued, 
hounded,  by  some  strange,  unseen  force,  to  his 
own  destruction. 

All  this  is  related  with  evident  sincerity, 
with  an  intensity  of  dramatic  fervor,  with 
minuteness  of  detail  and  a  sense  of  horrorism 


6 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


which  surpasses  even  the  language  and  the 
method  of  a  Poe. 

Is  it  true? 

No  matter  whether  it  be  true  or  not,  such  a 
concept  is  a  disaster  to  any  community.  For 
any  considerable  body  of  men  and  women  to 
believe  in  such  a  thing  and  be  affected  by  it, 
living  in  constant  dread  as  though  the  assassin 
were  upon  their  tracks,  looking  with  suspicion 
upon  every  face,  and  shivering  in  anticipation 
of  the  fatal  but  unseen  blow,  such  a  concept 
is  a  moral  as  well  as  intellectual  disaster  to 
any  community. 

But  if  such  a  concept  should  arise  from  the 
midst  of  a  system  of  religion,  it  would  be 
enough  to  damn  that  religion,  no  matter  though 
it  came  in  the  name  of  God  and  his  Christ,  and 
were  borne  to  the  door  of  every  house  on 
arch-angelic  wings  and  amid  the  burst  of 
high  hosannas  from  angelic  choirs. 

And  this  concept  does  arise  from  the  midst 
of  a  professedly  religious  system.  It  arises 
from  the  midst  of  that  system  known  as 
Christian  Science.  Christian  Science  gives 
occasion  to  this  concept  because  it  belongs  to 
the  category  of  mental  operation.  It  gives 
rise  to  it  because  in  its  final  analysis  Christian 
Science  is  a  lawless  and  exaggerated  hypno¬ 
tism.  Hypnotism  is  the  operation  of  mind 
upon  mind  through  the  law  of  suggestion.  A 
certain  individual  has  a  fancy  that  he  cannot 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


7 


go  down  the  street  beyond  a  fixed  point.  At 
this  point  he  balks  and  will  go  no  farther.  He 
has  all  sorts  of  reasons  about  it  and  cannot  be 
persuaded  to  change  his  resolution.  A  friend 
who  has  an  exceptionally  strong  will  and  a 
compelling  power  of  mind  suggests  to  him 
that  he  is  guilty  of  a  great  absurdity,  that 
there  is  every  reason  for  him  to  repudiate  his 
fancy  and  go  beyond  the  hindering  spot  and, 
finally,  prevails  upon  him  to  go.  Another 
has  a  splitting  headache  or  some  nervous  dis¬ 
order  that  incapacitates  him  for  work.  He  is 
continually  talking  about  his  ailments  to 
others.  He  makes  a  cult  of  them.  He  is 
wholly  taken  up  with  them.  His  friends  fall 
into  the  habit  of  inquiring  about  them,  dis¬ 
cussing  them.  His  ills  in  reality  become  his 
occupation  till  he  is  nothing  bettered  but  al¬ 
ways  worse.  A  strong  minded  and  strong 
willed  friend  determines  to  cure  him.  He  be¬ 
gins  by  telling  him  how  well  he  looks.  He 
persists  in  telling  him  that.  He  suggests  that 
he  shows  evidence  of  increased  strength  and 
vigor.  He  laughs  at  the  idea  of  any  real  dis¬ 
ease,  declares  he  needs  more  exercise,  points 
out  the  very  exercise  he  ought  to  take.  So 
constant  is  he  in  the  suggestion  of  health  and 
strength  that  the  sick  man  yields.  He  begins 
to  think  himself  that  he  is  well.  Finally,  he 
says  he  is  well.  Soon  he  is  so  taken  up  with 
his  “wellness”  that  he  forgets  his  illness.  He 


8 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


is  actually  well.  He  finds  his  normal  condi¬ 
tion.  It  is  the  case  of  the  substitution  of  one 
will  power  for  another,  the  weaker  is  rein¬ 
forced  by  the  stronger.  Having  no  definite 
will  of  his  own,  he  has  been  in  the  flotsam  and 
the  jetsam  of  his  own  weakness  and  the  mis¬ 
directed  wills  of  others.  Having  at  last  yielded 
to  the  strong  will  which  suggests  the  positive 
health  attitude,  he  is  dominated  and  governed 
by  it. 

It  is  an  issue  of  wills. 

Christian  Science  takes  up  this  issue.  It 
divides  humanity  into  two  classes  of  wills,  the 
dominant  and  the  submissive  wills.  The  dom¬ 
inant  wills  are  the  possible  healers,  the  sub¬ 
missive  wills  are  the  patients.  The  aim  of 
Christian  Science  is  to  cultivate  each  of  these 
wills.  It  would  increase  the  power  of  domi¬ 
nance  in  the  one  and  the  state  of  submissive¬ 
ness  in  the  other.  It  is  on  this  principle  of 
the  stronger  and  the  weaker  will  that  it  seeks 
to  produce  its  cures  and  extend  its  influence. 
And  it  has  a  basis  on  which  to  proceed.  There 
is  in  each  human  being  a  greater  or  less  de¬ 
posit  by  nature  of  curative  forces.  Every  phy¬ 
sician  knows  that  it  is  not  his  drug,  his 
remedy,  which  finally  accomplishes  the  cure, 
it  is  nature  herself.  The  best  any  physician 
can  do  is  to  appeal  to  these  forces,  free  them 
from  their  cloggings  or  hindrances  and  get 
them  to  work.  On  this  foundation  of  the  cura 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


9 


naturae  Christian  Science  operates.  Through 
the  law  of  suggestion  it  leads  the  patient  to 
appeal  to  the  curative  forces  within  him  and 
permit  them  to  act  unhinderedly.  It  does  not 
tell  the  patient  that  this  is  the  process.  It 
seeks  to  lead  him  to  deny  the  existence  of  his 
sickness.  It  seeks  by  establishing  the  idea  of 
negation,  to  allow  the  positivism  of  nature  to 
assert  itself;  taking  the  hindering,  objecting 
will  of  the  sick  man  out  of  the  way,  the  will 
that  clogs  and  bars  the  true  activities  of  the 
body,  it  points  to  the  results  of  nature’s  loyal 
response  to  the  yielded  will  and  claims  its 
proposition  of  no  sickness  proved. 

All  this  of  course  is  mainly  true  and  in  lim¬ 
ited  degree  in  the  region  of  nervous  disorders. 
So  far,  Christian  Science  has  not  restored  a 
lost  eye  or  a  lost  limb.  Nevertheless,  it  must 
be  noted  that  Mrs.  Eddy  claims  these  things 
can  be  done.  She  tells  us  in  her  monumental 
text  book,  “Christian  Science  and  Health,” 
that  the  lobster  has  no  mind,  and,  just  because 
it  has  no  mind,  when  it  loses  a  claw  it  imme¬ 
diately  replaces  it  by  another.  Mrs.  Eddy 
asserts  that  the  moment  we  can  minimize  the 
capacity  of  our  mind,  the  moment  we  can 
reach  the  mental  state  of  the  lobster,  we  shall 
be  able  at  will  to  replace  any  member  of  our 
body  lost  by  accident  or  the  surgeon’s  knife. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  evident  that  the  opera¬ 
tion  of  a  strong  will  upon  a  weaker  may  lead 


10 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


it  through  the  law  of  suggestion  to  bring 
about  deliverance  from  many  nervous  troubles. 

But  it  ought  to  be  equally  evident  that  if 
this  mental  operation  can  produce  a  certain 
degree  of  good,  it  can  also  produce  an  enor¬ 
mous  amount  of  evil.  It  ought  to  be  clear 
that  if  any  combination  of  strong  minds  and 
wills  should  be  concentrated  upon  another 
mind  and  will ;  if  the  individual  upon  whom 
this  influence  was  discharged  had  faith  in  the 
power  of  these  minds  and,  at  the  same  time, 
was  pervaded  by  an  intense  and  constant  fear 
— it  ought  to  be  plain  enough  that  the  indi¬ 
vidual  under  such  assault  would  yield,  might 
fall  into  a  state  of  will  paralysis,  break  down, 
become  a  mental  wreck  and  die.  Thus  the  en¬ 
trance  of  one  will  into  and  pervading  the  mind 
and  will  of  another,  is  precisely  like  the  robber 
or  the  assassin  who  stealthily  enters  the  home 
of  another.  The  very  idea  that  one  personality 
can  be  invaded,  possessed,  obsessed  by  the 
personality  of  another,  is  disintegrating,  de¬ 
moralizing  and,  in  proportion  as  it  is  ex¬ 
panded  and  made  a  fact  of  experience,  be¬ 
comes  an  unspeakable  menace,  an  indescriba¬ 
ble  physical  danger  to  the  community. 

Thus  Christian  Science  is  a  Physical  Peril. 

Christian  Science  is  not  only  a  physical 
peril,  it  is  intellectual  bankruptcy. 

If  to-day  the  teachers  in  our  public  schools 
were  teaching  that  there  is  no  chemistry,  no 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


11 


mathematics,  no  applied  science,  the  result  to 
the  scholars  would  be  intellectual  disintegra¬ 
tion  and  disaster.  It  would  mean  mental  and 
intellectual  bankruptcy. 

Christian  Science  is  doing  that  very  thing ! 

It  teaches  that  there  is  no  chemistry,  no 
mathematics,  no  applied  science.  It  teaches 
all  this  by  and  through  its  fundamental  propo¬ 
sition  that  there  is  no  matter,  that  matter  does 
not  exist.  If  there  is  no  matter  there  surely 
can  be  no  chemistry.  There  are  no  original 
and  radical  elements,  no  qualities  or  distinct 
properties.  There  are  no  affiinities,  no  repul¬ 
sions,  no  possible  combinations,  mixtures  or 
products.  To  say  that  one  thing  is  a  gas,  an¬ 
other  a  salt ;  that  one  thing  is  fluid  and  another 
solid ;  that  there  are  deposits  and  precipitates, 
is  absurd ;  for,  as  there  is  no  matter,  there  can 
be  neither  chemical  properties  nor  substance. 
None  of  these  things  exist.  Chemistry  as  a 
science,  as  a  fact,  is  no  better  than  the  baseless 
fabric  of  a  dream. 

If  there  is  no  matter  there  can  be  no  mathe¬ 
matics,  no  addition,  no  minus  and  plus,  no 
multiplication  or  division,  no  weight,  density, 
form,  measure,  ratio  or  proportion.  There 
can  be  no  construction,  no  relation  of  part  to 
part,  no  distance,  no  transit  over  that  distance, 
no  constructed  means  of  locomotion.  There 
can  be  no  possible  calculation.  Astronomers 
tell  us  that  the  second  on  an  astronomical 


12 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


meridian  is  equal  to  the  twentieth  part  of  the 
thickness  of  a  hair,  and  that  by  means  of  this 
second,  when  used  as  the  parallax  of  a  star, 
its  distance  of  over  four  billions  of  miles  from 
our  world  may  be  accurately  determined. 
Great  mathematicians  tell  us  that  the  undula¬ 
tion  of  the  yellow  ray  of  sodium  is  equal  to 
the  590  millionth  of  a  millimeter  and  should 
be  used  as  the  invariable  standard  of  measure 
with  which  to  compute  the  infinite  distances 
of  the  heavenly  bodies.  But  if  there  is  no 
matter,  then  there  is  no  sodium.  If  there  is 
no  sodium  certainly  there  is  no  yellow  ray. 
Where  there  is  no  yellow  ray  there  can  be  no 
undulation  thereof.  Where  there  is  no  undu¬ 
lation  there  is  no  measure  and  the  suggested 
standard,  the  590  millionth  of  a  millimeter,  is 
a  fanciful  fiction.  No  such  computation  or 
calculation  is  possible.  Calculation  itself  is 
impossible.  Without  calculation  there  is  an 
end  of  mathematics.  There  is,  therefore,  no 
such  thing  as  mathematics.  Mathematics  do 
not  exist. 

Christian  Science  teaches  all  that  in  deny¬ 
ing  matter.  Such  teaching  is  intellectual 
bankruptcy. 

It  is  more  than  that,  it  is  moral  bankruptcy. 

The  logic  of  no  matter  means  that  the  uni¬ 
verse  is  a  deception.  All  creation  is  a  lie. 
Nothing  we  see,  or  hear,  or  touch,  or  feel  is 
true.  Our  whole  environment  is  a  falsehood. 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


13 


That  sunrise  is  a  falsehood,  a  rank  deception. 

Turn  your  gaze  to  the  eastern  sky.  It  is 
domed  with  darkness.  Suddenly,  the  dark¬ 
ness  is  shot  through  and  through  to  the  zenith 
with  arrows  of  light,  each  arrow  tipped  with 
gold  and  turning  to  streams  of  crimson  fire. 
The  blackness  breaks  into  masses  of  grey 
clouds,  and  these  flee  away  like  scattered 
squadrons  of  a  frightened  foe  before  the  on¬ 
coming  of  the  king.  The  great  dome  is 
changed  to  a  canopy  of  infinite  blue.  Other 
clouds  rise  and  sweep  forward  like  the  king’s 
retainers,  clothed  with  fleece  such  as  kings 
wear,  fringed  with  purple  and  amethyst  and 
heavy  with  gold.  The  sun  rises,  at  first  a 
thin  rim  of  quivering  glory  on  the  low  hori¬ 
zon,  afterwards  a  blazing  circumference,  fill¬ 
ing  all  the  world  of  earth  and  sky  with  out¬ 
spreading  splendor ;  and  then,  at  last,  with  the 
assured  power  of  measureless  strength,  as¬ 
cending  regally  to  that  upper  throne  where 
for  the  day  he  reigns  supreme. 

And  all  this  is  a  lie,  a  deception,  an  error 
of  mortal  mind.  Every  ray  of  silver  flashing, 
every  gleam  of  golden  glory,  is  proclaiming 
to  our  attentive  souls  that  we  have  been 
fooled,  deceived  and  trifled  with— there  is  no 
sunrise  and  no  wealth  of  changing  color. 

Look  at  the  sunset. 

View  it  from  the  deck  of  ship  in  mid-ocean. 
The  great  ball  of  fire  swings  slowly  down  to 


14 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


touch  the  wave,  and  then,  turning  to  a  wheel 
of  fire,  burns  its  deep  rut  of  flame  into  the 
breaking  wave,  the  waters  rising  up  to  swal¬ 
low  its  palpitating  circumference,  and  the 
night  dropping  down  from  above  to  draw  over 
it  the  deep  darkness,  as  when  a  hood  is  drawn 
over  the  face  of  one  condemned ;  there  is  a 
quiver  of  light  like  a  great  voiceless  protest — 
then  it  is  gone  as  a  lamp  blown  out  in  a  sudden 
wind,  and  far  upward  in  the  night  sky  the 
calm  stars  serenely  watch  where  a  blazing 
world  has  been. 

But  every  ray  of  splendor  from  that  sinking 
sun,  every  flame  of  color  from  that  slow 
descending  world,  is  a  falsehood.  There  is 
no  sunset,  there  is  no  color,  there  is  no  sun. 

Mark  that  storm  at  sea. 

Note  how  the  heavens  bend  down.  A  dark 
cloud  like  a  giant  hand  reaches  to  the  very 
depths  and  entrails  of  the  sea,  gathers  the 
waves  in  its  fist,  lifts  them  and  flings  them  till 
they  fall  and  rise  again,  bellowing  as  wild 
beasts  bellow.  The  winds  let  loose  among 
them  like  unseen  tormentors  with  roaring 
voices  and  smiting  whip-lashes,  drive  them  in 
a  tumult  against  each  other,  filling  them  with 
foam  and  fury,  and  sending  them  to  dash 
themselves  with  crash  and  thunder  and  hoarse 
cryings  on  the  sounding  shore,  dragging  with 
them  masts  and  spars  of  sinking  ships  and 
bodies  of  drowning  men  and  women. 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


15 


And  all  this  scene  is  a  lie — an  unreal  thing. 
No  waves  ever  break,  no  winds  ever  wail,  or 
cry,  or  sweep,  no  storm  ever  thunders  above 
land  or  sea.  There  is  neither  land  nor  sea ; 
for,  there  is  no  matter. 

That  glorious  landscape ! 

It  is  four  o’clock  of  a  summer’s  afternoon. 
The  hills  are  all  a-swoon  in  the  soft  encircling 
haze.  The  tree  tops  are  turned  to  velvet 
browns  and  dusky  greens.  The  brook  babbles 
lazily  on  its  shining,  rippling  way,  each 
whitened  pebble  gleaming  up  through  the 
parted  silver  of  its  flow.  You  lie  stretched  at 
ease  in  the  shadows  amid  the  sedgy  grass  and 
hear  the  hum  of  insect  life,  and  dream  your¬ 
self  in  a  world  where  foreheads  have  no 
wrinkles  and  hearts  no  care.  Well-a-day!  it 
is  all  a  dream.  From  first  to  last  it  is  all  a 
dream.  There  is  no  noisy  brook,  no  hills  that 
lie  in  misty  depths,  no  over-arching  sky  of 
kindly  blue.  It  is  all  a  falsehood  of  those  ly¬ 
ing  things  we  call  the  senses. 

Yes,  all  is  deception  and  arrant  falsehood, 
a  mean,  deceiving  hypocrisy — the  clasp  of 
hands,  the  touch  of  lips,  the  voice  of  promise, 
the  covenant  oath,  the  men  and  women  and 
laughing  children  whom  you  meet.  That 
woman  with  the  rounded  form,  the  classic  con¬ 
tour,  the  shape  divine,  eyes  whose  depths 
draw  down  your  soul,  and  whose  hands  reach 
out  to  claim  you  as  her  own  and  make  quick 


16 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


profit  of  your  soft  surrendered  will ;  that  man 
with  the  torso  of  an  Apollo,  the  brow  of  an 
Olympian  god,  the  gesture  of  imperial  power ; 
that  child  with  the  sun-kissed  ringlets  and 
mouth  of  rosebud  and  smiles  of  innocence ; 
these,  with  song  of  birds  and  fragrance  oi 
flowers ;  these  things  of  earth,  and  all  the  shin¬ 
ing  things  of  night  which  in  that  upper  heaven 
we  call  the  starry  worlds — these  are  rank  de¬ 
ceptions,  creations  of  mortal  error,  founda¬ 
tionless  in  fact,  figments  of  fancy,  the  fading 
spectres,  the  unreal  ghosts  of  unreal  and  empty 
things. 

And  what  does  this  environment  of  illusion, 
of  delusion,  deception  and  falsehood  mean? 
It  means  the  universe  in  which  we  supposedly 
live  is  making,  not  for  righteousness,  but  foi 
unrighteousness.  This  seeming  creation  by 
which  we  are  surrounded  being  a  falsehood  in¬ 
spires  to  falsehood  concerning  ourselves.  It 
is  impossible  to  live  in  a  world  where  all  we 
see,  hear,  feel  and  touch,  is  untrue,  without 
being  inspired  to  untruth  ourselves.  Being  un¬ 
der  obligation  to  deny  as  real  every  out¬ 
ward  and  visible  fact,  our  relation  to  ourselves 
and  to  each  other  can  be  only  one  continued 
falsehood,  one  maze,  one  round  of  deception, 
hypocrisy  and  false  pretence. 

'  This  is  the  logic  of  that  fundamental  propo¬ 
sition  of  Christian  Science — no  matter. 

Such  a  system  with  such  a  proposition 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


17 


means  intellectual  bankruptcy  and  moral  deg¬ 
radation. 

Christian  Science  is  a  paralysis. 

It  is  a  paralysis  of  all  the  sweet  humanities, 
of  all  the  helpful  amenities  of  mortal  life. 

It  enables  a  mother  to  look  with  cold  in¬ 
difference  on  the  crushed,  bleeding  form  of 
her  child,  crushed  and  bleeding  from  a  fright¬ 
ful  accident  and  say,  “There  is  no  accident. 
There  is  no  matter.  There  is  no  pain.  My 
child  does  not  suffer." 

It  enables  the  wife  to  look  with  unmoved 
calmness  while  her  husband  tosses  in  ^the 
throes  of  fever  and  say,  with  even  speech,  He 
does  not  suffer.  There  is  no  fever ;  for  there 
is  no  matter  in  which  fever  can  burn.  Nay! 
the  truth  is — actually — he  does  not  have  a 
body  at  all.” 

It  enables  men  and  women  to  walk  amid  the 
sorrowing  and  the  troubled  and  shed  no  tears, 
because  they  deny  the  existence  of  sorrow,  01 
want,  or  woe.  It  is  true,  that  the  clasp  of  a 
hand  has  helped  many  a  weak  soul  to  fight 
another  battle.  It  is  true,  that  in  this  busy 
life,  a  kind  and  sympathetic  word  spoken  at 
the  right  moment  has  helped  men  and  women 
to  stand  true  and  steadfast  in  the  hour  oi 
trial.  It  is  true,  that  a  tear  of  fellowship  with 
another’s  sorrow  has  sweetened  the  bitterness 
of  that  soul  and  enabled  him  to  sing  his  song 


18 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


of  hope  in  the  night  of  despair  and  go  for¬ 
ward  to  a  better  day;  but  this  system,  this 
professed  religion,  this  Christian  Science,  par¬ 
alyzes  all  that. 

It  denies  the  right  of  any  human  heart  to 
have  sympathy,  or  consideration  for  another’s 
pain  or  woe.  It  teaches  that  to  speak  a  word 
of  sympathy,  to  let  fall  a  tear,  to  weep  with 
those  who  weep,  to  own  and  try  to  bear  the 
burden  under  which  another  falls,  is  to  sus¬ 
tain  the  false  idea  that  men  and  women  do 
have  cares  or  sorrows  or  such  things  as  heart 
ache  and  pain.  Christian  Science  repudiates 
all  this  humanness  and  turns  men  and  women 
into  cold-blooded,  self-centered,  pulseless  ego¬ 
tists  ;  and  if  it  could  influence  all  the  human 
race  to  its  inhuman  conclusions,  it  would  cre¬ 
ate  a  world  from  which  the  angels  of  mercy 
and  love  would  flee  in  horror  as  from  the 
midst  of  a  race  of  frozen  monsters. 

Yes,  Christian  Science  paralyzes  all  that 
makes  humanity  helpful  and  attractive:  all 
that  saves  the  race  from  becoming  a  mob  of 
incarnate  devils. 

Christian  Science  is  a  system  of  absolute 
immorality. 

What  would  you  say  if  every  minister  in 
the  land  were  teaching  that  lying,  cheating, 
swearing,  drunkenness,  robbery  and  murder 
were  not  crimes ;  that  there  was  no  sin  in  any 
of  these  things? 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


19 


And  yet  that  is  just  what  Christian  Science 
is  teaching. 

Christian  Science  teaches  that  lying,  cheat¬ 
ing,  swearing,  drunkenness,  robbery  and  mur¬ 
der  are  not  crimes;  that  there  is  no  sin  in 
them. 

You  hold  up  your  hands  in  horror  and  say, 
“Nay!  it  cannot  be.  No  such  system  would 
dare  to  come  before  an  enlightened  com¬ 
munity  and  teach  that.” 

But  Christian  Science  does  do  that. 

Christian  Science  teaches  that,  because 
Christian  Science  says  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  sin.  Just  as  much  as  the  proposition  that 
matter  does  not  exist  is  fundamental  to  Chris¬ 
tian  Science,  so  is  the  proposition  that  there 
is  no  sin.  Again  and  again  Christian  Science 
repeats  that  postulate.  Over  and  over  again 
in  every  imaginable  form  of  statement  it  pro¬ 
claims  that  sin  is  not  a  fact,  that  there  is  no 
fact,  no  actuality  in  sin.  Sin  is  a  false  con¬ 
cept,  it  does  not  exist  at  all. 

Now,  if  there  is  no  such  thing  as  sin,  if  sin 
does  not  exist,  then  no  act  of  any  kind  can  be 
sin. 

The  man  who  fails  to  meet  the  standards  of 
righteousness  and  truth,  the  woman  who  al¬ 
lows  the  ermine  of  her  chastity  to  be  soiled, 
have  committed  no  sin.  No  matter  what  the 
world’s  standards  may  be ;  no  matter  what  the 
judgments  of  courts  may  pronounce;  no 


20 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


matter  what  the  legal,  physical,  moral,  or 
penal  consequences  of  any  act  may  be,  there  is 
no  sin.  It  will  not  do  to  say  that  the  false 
idea  that  sin  exists  produces  evil  results.  It 
is  impossible !  As  there  is  no  sin,  no  actual 
evil  of  any  sort,  no  matter  what  the  concept, 
the  consequences  cannot  be  evil  or  sinful;  for, 
here  is  a  proposition  that  is  utterly  inviolable, 
it  is  this:  where  there  is  no  fact  of  sin  there 
can  be  no  act  of  sin. 

What  then  must  be  the  actual  moral .  con¬ 
dition  of  an  inner  expert  circle  of  Christian 
Science  where  men  and  women  do  not  be¬ 
lieve  there  is  any  such  fact  as  sin;  and  that 
no  matter  what  the  concept,  or  the  yielding  to 
the  concept  may  be,  there  never  can  be  an  act 
that  is  really  sin?  What  an  amazing  system 
by  which  the  dishonored  man  and  the  fallen 
woman  may  deliver  both  conscience  and  con¬ 
sciousness  of  every  deed,  or  word,  or  thought 
of  sin. 

In  all  this  world  there  is  no  system  of 
human  thought  so  packed  with  the  germs, 
with  the  bacilli,  of  casuistic  iniquity  and  soul 
deception. 

Christian  Science  is  an  unspeakable  social 
wickedness. 

It  denies  the  need  and  the  exalted  place  of 
marriage. 

It  denies  the  need  of  marriage  as  the  means 
for  the  reproduction  of  the  race.  It  denies  it 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


21 


on  the  basis  of  this  far  reaching  proposition 
that  matter  does  not  exist.  .  As  there  is  no 
matter  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  human 
body.  As  there  is  no  human  body,  then  no 
man  ever  begot  a  child,  no  woman  ever 
brought  it  to  the  birth.  As  man  has  never 
been  born  and  cannot  die,  the  race  has  neither 
increased  nor  decreased.  It  remains  in  statu 
quo.  It  has,  therefore,  no  need  of  reproduc¬ 
tion.  Marriage  is  not  a  necessity  to  that  end. 
When  a  Christian  Science  wife  reaches  the 
high  altitude  where  its  much  married  and  di¬ 
vorced  founder  now  dwells,  she  will  see  that 
the  woman  who  wishes  a  child  has  no  need 
of  the  agency  of  a  human  father ;  all  she  has 
to  do  is  to  think  intensely  on  the  subject  and 
she  will  bring  forth  a  child ;  and  this  child,  in 
the  final  analysis,  will  be  an  idea  born  of  her 
mental  contemplation  and  brought  about  by 
self  division— that  is  to  say,  on  the  principle 
of  bacteria. 

Christian  Science  wives  are  to  recognize 
that  motherhood  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the 
word  is  not  the  highest  function  of  a  wife. 
They  are  to  recognize  that  marriage  on  a 
fleshly  basis  is  utterly  demoralizing  and  wholly 
disturbing  to  spiritual  conception  and  must— 
as  far  as  possible — be  repudiated.  Mother¬ 
hood,  as  motherhood  has  been  understood 
since’  the  beginning  of  the  world,  must  be 
avoided. 


22 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


Motherhood  avoided ! ! 

Motherhood  put  in  the  category  of  that 
which  is  below  a  woman’s  highest  and  noblest 
function ! ! ! 

This  is  the  Christian  Science  idea  of  moth¬ 
erhood. 

Consider,  I  pray  you,  God’s  idea  of  mother¬ 
hood. 

I  wish  I  could  describe  it  to  you. 

It  is  night  in  Judea. 

It  is  night  above  the  little  town  of  Bethle¬ 
hem. 

The  heavens  seem  washed  afresh  with  the 
waves  of  holiness  and  purity.  Each  world  is 
as  though  newly  burnished.  Out  there  Orion 
gleams  with  his  star  studded  belt.  Above  him 
the  Pleiades  scintillate  like  a  handful  of  dia¬ 
monds  flung  down  by  the  largess  of  a  king. 
The  constellations  have  sailed  in  together  like 
a  fleet  of  silver  ships  from  an  infinite  sea. 
Two  great  planets  in  their  rush  to  shine  above 
the  Bethlehem  plains  have  come  so  near  each 
other  that  the  rim  of  the  one  seems  indenting 
the  other  until  they  shine  and  glow  like  one 
vast,  double  star.  From  the  heights  far  up, 
a  great  company  of  the  tall  angels  of  God 
come  down  to  the  borders  of  the  softly  sleep¬ 
ing  world.  Then  a  notable  star  detaches  itself 
from  the  teeming  heavens  like  a  golden  lamp 
let  down  by  invisible  chains  and  unseen  mas¬ 
ter  hands.  Out  of  this  swinging  censer  of 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


23 


flashing  light  and  expanding  splendor  there 
floats  upon  the  expectant  air  an  incense  of 
praise  never  before  heard  by  the  sons  of  men. 
And  now  it  is  the  voice  of  the  angelic  choir 
that  is  heard.  They  sing  and  all  the  earth  is 
still  while  the  strange,  heart-compelling  music 
fills  the  listening  ears  of  startled  shepherds 
keeping  their  peaceful  sheep.  They  look  and 
they  listen  with  awe-smitten  souls ,  and  lo, 
these  stars  are  throwing  down  their  tribute  o 
light  and  these  glory  angels  are  smgmg  their 
song  and  lifting  their  chants  above  a  new  born 
babe.  All  heaven  is  moved,  all  the  universe 
is  in  commotion,  over  a  babe.  Theie  in  a 
stable  by  the  way-side  is  a  pure  virgin  girl 
and  yet— a  mother.  In  her  arms  she  holds 
the  wonder  babe.  Childhood  and  motherhood 
find  all  heaven  bending  above  them.  God,  t  e 
Almighty,  has  selected  a  woman  s  life  as  the 
gateway  by  which  he  might  come  into  this 
world.  The  Infinite  has  become  an  infant. 
The  eternal  fatherhood  owns  and  reveals  di¬ 
vine  sonship  through  human  motherhood. 
From  henceforth  “Mother"  is  a  holy  name 
and  childhood  sacred  with  the  touch  of  God. 

This  is  God’s  attitude  to  motherhood  and 


childhood.  ,  ,  ,,  _  ,1 

But  Christian  Science  degrades  both  moth¬ 
erhood  and  childhood.  It  degrades  it  to  the 
level  of  merest  flesh.  In  its  eyes  the  love 
which  leads  a  woman  to  give  herself  body  and 


24 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


soul  to  the  man  whom  she  does  love ;  the  love 
which  leads  a  true  man  to  exalt  his  wife  as 
the  purest  and  most  wonderful  thing  in  all 
the  wide  world  and  make  her  a  radiant  queen 
regnant  over  his  life,  in  Christian  Science, 
after  all,  is  no  better  than  the  animalism  of 
the  field  and  the  stockyard.  Christian  Science 
in  principle  would  lead  every  young  man  and 
every  young  woman  who  would  reach  the 
farther  heights,  to  set  aside  the  idea  of  mar¬ 
riage.  In  the  inner  circle  of  Christian  Science 
marriage  is  looked  upon  as  on  the  lower  plane 
of  mortal  mind  and  not  amid  the  alpine  peaks 
of  spiritual  discernment.  In  order  to  attain 
to  this  altitude  of  serene  deliverance  from  the 
flesh,  not  only  should  the  unmarried  continue 
unmarried,  but  the  married  should  ignore  the 
marriage  bond  except  in  sublimated  and  ab¬ 
stract  relation. 

In  the  nature  of  the  case,  therefore,  Chris¬ 
tian  Science  leads  wives  to  be  separated  from 
their  husbands  and,  not  infrequently,  husbands 
to  be  separated  from  their  wives.  This  sepa¬ 
ration  is  not  always  open  but  often  in  the 
secret  of  the  family  circle.  Apparently  one, 
and  yet  as  far  apart  as  though  living  in  sun¬ 
dered  worlds. 

Here  is  a  man  who  worked  and  toiled  all 
the  day.  To  him  when  the  day’s  work  was 
over  the  thought  of  home  was  as  comforting 
as  the  hope  of  a  haven  to  a  storm  tossed  mari- 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


25 


ner.  When  he  entered  the  door  his  wife  met 
him  with  a  kiss,  with  arms  about  his  neck, 
with  a  caress  of  love  and  heart’s  deep  affec¬ 
tion  that  were  like  balm  to  his  aching  nerves, 
like  fresh  inspiration  to  his  jaded  will.  But 
now — how  changed  all  things.  Since  that 
wife  has  become  a  Christian  Scientist,  she  has 
been  taught  that  marriage  is  only  to  be  tol¬ 
erated,  that  affection  must  be  abstract  and  not 
real ;  that  she  must  not  yield  to  the  maternal 
sentiment  and  influence  of  love.  When  hei 
husband  meets  her  she  is  kind  and  attentive, 
but  there  is  an  atmosphere  between  them.  To 
him  she  seems,  indeed,  to  be  living  in  another 
world  whither  he  cannot  follow  her.  He  no 
longer  receives  the  kiss,  the  caress,  the  re¬ 
sponse  of  heart  to  heart,  the  unfolding  of  all 
the  treasures  of  her  love  and  sympathy.  He 
feels  as  one  who  has  been  chilled  by  an  ic} 
blast.  He  goes  forth  and  by  and  by  his  feet 
are  found  in  other  paths  for  promised  peace 
and  comfort — and  lo — there  is  a  tragedy  in 
that  house. 

Or,  it  is  the  husband  who  has  become  a 
Christian  Scientist.  His  wife  once  looked 
upon  him  as  the  center  and  circumfeience  of 
her  home.  It  was  her  joy  to  love  him  and 
give  herself  wholly  to  him.  But  since  he  .has 
become  a  Christian  Scientist  all  that  is 
changed.  When  he  enters  the  home,  he  keeps 
her  at  a  distance.  To  him  she  is  now  not  so 


26 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


much  his  wife,  the  companion  of  his  joys,  as 
the  subtle  temptress  of  the  flesh.  If  he  should 
yield  to  her  impulsive,  natural  attitude,  she 
would  drag  him  down,  he  thinks,  to  the  low 
level  of  mortal  mind — its  fleshly  illusions  and 
spiritual  destruction.  Her  heart  cries  out  for 
love,  and  all  that  love  may  mean  to  a  womanly 
and  maternal  heart.  He  steels  himself  against 
it.  He  dreads  a  Circe  in  the  woman  who 
wears  his  name.  And  she !  she  pines  and 
shrinks  away  in  an  atmosphere  that  smothers 
and  stifles  every  generous  hope,  every  true 
and  human  impulse. 

A  beautiful  woman  has  told  her  story  to 
the  world. 

Christian  Science  entered  her  home  and 
drew  away  from  her  the  heart  of  him  whom 
she  loved  and  whose  name  she  bore,  of  whose 
children  she  was  the  mother.  She  warns 
young  women  that  Christian  Science  will  de¬ 
stroy  their  noblest  ideals  and  their  purest 
hopes ;  that  it  appeals  to  the  baser  passion  of 
self  and  self’s  ways.  She  exhorts  them  to 
turn  from  it,  to  shun  it  as  an  evil  thing,  the 
source  of  sure  and  certain  woe. 

Christian  Science  is  a  root  of  bitterness  in 
the  home. 

Men  and  women  have  told  me  and  have 
written  to  me  of  the  dark  shadow  in  their 
homes  since  the  blighting  thing  entered  their 
portals. 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


27 


Christian  Science  does  not  openly  forbid 
marriage.  Openly  it  tolerates  it  and  professes 
to  set  guards  around  it,  but  in  secret  discour¬ 
ages  it.  It  teaches  that  marriage  may  for 
the  present  continue,  but  that  celibacy  is 
nearer  right  ’than  marriage,  the  unmarried 
better  than  the  married  state. 

Left  to  itself,  to  work  unhinderedly,  Chris¬ 
tian  Science  will  cast  disrepute  on  marriage 
and  break  it  down.  Let  it  alone  and  it  will 
overthrow  marriage  as  the  great,  divine  bul¬ 
wark  of  human  society,  the  one  uplifted  dyke 
that  keeps  back  the  inflowing  turgid  tide  of 
sensualism  and  black  corruption.  Christian 
Science  would  break  down  this  defence,  not 
all  at  once,  but  slowly,  insidiously,  and  surely. 

When  a  ship  comes  to  the  ports  of  this 
country  laden  with  pestilence  and  contagion, 
it  is  quarantined ;  and  I  say  that  this  system, 
a  system  that  gives  rise  to  the  suggestion  of 
mental  assassination ;  a  system  that  is  intel¬ 
lectually  degrading ;  a  system  that  paralyzes 
all  the  values  of  human  comity,  fellowship 
and  sympathy;  a  system  that  is  downright  im¬ 
morality  and  actual  social  wickedness ;  a  sys¬ 
tem  that  is  a  physical,  intellectual,  moral  and 
social  danger,  ought  to  be  quarantined  and 
kept  from  the  midst  of  decent  society. 

But  Christian  Science  is  not  only  a  social 
wickedness,  it  is  a  soul  destroyer,  a  spiritual 
betrayer.  It  betrays  Christianity.  It  is  the 


28 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


Judas  Iscariot  of  Christianity.  It  betrays  it 
as  Judas  Iscariot  betrayed  the  Son  of  God. 

Look  at  that  scene  of  betrayal. 

It  is  night.  It  is  half  day  and  half  night. 
You  can  see  the  great  tree  trunks,  the  old, 
gnarled  olive  trees,  drawn  in  sharp  silhouette 
against  the  changing  sky.  Men  are  coming 
and  going  with  lanterns  and  staves.  And  now 
Judas  comes  up  the  green  slope  of  the  moun¬ 
tain.  He  approaches  Jesus.  He  gives  him 
the  all  hail  and  kisses  him.  Jesus  steps  back 
and  says  rebukingly,  “Judas,  betrayest  thou 
the  Son  of  man  with  a  kiss?" 

Christian  Science  conies  like  Judas. 

It  comes  with  the  all  hail  of  his  name  upon 
its  lips.  It  gives  him  the  kiss,  and  then  it  be¬ 
trays  him.  But  it  is  shrewder  than  Judas. 
He  sold  his  Master  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver ; 
Christian  Science  sells  him  for  many  times 
thirty  pieces  of  silver.  It  betrays  him  while 
it  salutes  and  kisses  him.  It  betrays  him  by 
denying  everything  for  which  he  stands.  Our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  stands  for  the  personality 
of  God,  for  prayer,  for  atonement  by  the 
shedding  of  blood,  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  ascension  to,  and  session  in,  heaven, 
salvation  through  faith  in  him,  salvation 
through  faith  in  him  and  in  and  through  no 
other,  the  second  coming,  final  judgment  and 
everlasting  punishment  of  the  unrighteous. 

Christian  Science  denies  all  this. 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


29 


It  denies  the  personality  of  God.  God  is 
not  a  person.  God  is  only  a  principle.  There 
is  no  God  in  the  universe  to  whom  a  tired  soul 
may  turn  and  say,  “Thou,"  and  call  for  help. 
No  God  in  the  universe  who  can  look  down  on 
that  weary  soul  and  say,  “Thou  art  my  child, 
come  unto  me  and  rest."  It  denies  prayer. 
There  is  nothing  for  which  to  pray.  No  one 
to  whom  to  pray.  It  denies  the  virgin  birth. 
It  denies  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  denies  the 
reality  of  his  body,  teaches  that  he  was  not  al¬ 
ways  spiritual,  not  always  free  from  error. 
He  never  made  atonement  on  the  cross.  His 
shed  blood  was  of  no  more  avail  than  when 
flowing  in  his  veins.  He  never  shed  his  blood. 
He  never  died  on  the  cross.  While  the  world 
thought  he  was  dead  and  bound  in  the  tomb, 
he  was  alive,  hiding  from  the  gaze  of  men. 
He  never  ascended  to  heaven.  At  that  point 
of  so-called  ascension  he  disappeared.  He 
ceased  to  exist.  He  does  not  exist  to-day. 
The  Jesus  idea  has  given  way  to  the  Christ 
idea.  There  is  no  heaven,  heaven  is  only  a 
state  of  mind.  There  is  no  judgment  to  come. 
There  is  no  hell,  and  there  are  none  who  are 
lost.  No  one  needs  to  be  saved  from  sin.  .  In 
Holy  Scripture  it  is  written,  “This  is  a  faith¬ 
ful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that 
Christ  Tesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sin¬ 
ners."  Christian  Science  takes  up  that  scrip¬ 
ture  and  makes  it  to  say,  “Christ  Jesus  came 


30 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


into  the  world  not  to  save  sinners,  bnt  to  save 
them  from  believing  they  were  sinners.” 

Christian  Science  denies  the  Bible.  It  de¬ 
nies  it  as  the  infallible  Word  of  God.  It 
teaches  that  the  Bible  is  a  book  full  of  errors, 
full  of  fables  and  fictions.  It  cannot  be  read 
safely  without  the  key  which  Mrs.  Eddy  has 
invented.  That  key  is  her  book,  “Christian 
Science  and  Health,”  printed  and  sold  at 
three  dollars  and  a  half  a  copy.  No  Christian 
Scientist  must  read  the  Bible  apart  from  that 
book.  Each  Christian  Scientist  must  purchase 
a  copy.  No  Christian  Scientist  must  lend  or 
give  away  a  copy.  Christian  Science  by 
throwing  doubts  on  the  value  of  the  Bible, 
charging  it  with  error  and  falsehood,  testi¬ 
fying  that  it  has  been  put  together  and  com¬ 
piled  by  men  who  were  in  the  darkness  of 
mortal  mind,  making  it  necessary  to  read 
“Christian  Science  and  Health”  in  order  that 
its  fables  and  follies  may  be  revealed  and  that 
the  reader  may  not  be  led  astray — Christian 
Science  in  doing  all  this,  seeks  steadily  and 
subtly  to  betray  the  very  citadel  of  truth. 
Follow  Christian  Science  and  sooner  or  later 
you  will  reject  the  Bible. 

Christian  Science  is  Benedict  Arnold  and 
Judas  Iscariot  rolled  into  one.  It  has  all  the 
treason  of  Benedict  Arnold  and  all  the  sordid¬ 
ness  of  Judas  Iscariot. 

Compare  the  founder  of  Christianity  with 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


31 


the  founder  of  Christian  Science.  Look  at 
the  birth  of  Jesus.  He  was  born  in  a  road¬ 
side  kahn.  He  was  so  poor  that  he  wore  a 
seamless  robe,  the  common,  every  day  badge 
of  poverty.  He  was  so  poor,  as  he  himself 
said,  that  the  birds  of  the  air  had  nests  and 
the  foxes  had  holes,  but  the  Son  of  man  had 
not  where  to  lay  his  head.  He  owned  no  real 
estate.  He  found  his  food  sometimes  in  a 
cornfield,  and  when  he  died  was  buried  in  a 
borrowed  grave. 

But  look  at  the  founder  of  Christian  Sci¬ 
ence.  She  owns  real  estate  and  plenty  of  it. 
She  has  had  a  beautiful  home,  and  all  the 
comfort  and  luxury  of  a  well  conducted  busi¬ 
ness.  She  has  recently  settled  a  lawsuit  in 
which  she  paid  over  some  hundreds  of  thous¬ 
ands  of  dollars. 

Jesus  went  forth  and  healed  the  sick  with¬ 
out  money  and  without  price. 

This  woman  draws  her  income  from  the 
money  of  her  dupes. 

Jesus  went  among  the  poor  and  the  lowly. 
It  was  said  of  him,  ‘This  man  receiveth  sin¬ 
ners,  and  eateth  with  them.”  Christian  Sci¬ 
ence  does  not  go  among  the  poor  and  the  out¬ 
cast.  It  would  not  dare  to  do  so.  It  dare 
not  go  into  the  tenement  where  men  and 
women  on  the  poorest  food  are  barely  living; 
where  misery  and  disease  do  their  deadly  and 
their  daily  work.  It  would  not  dare  to  tell 


32 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


the  woman  burning  with  the  fever  of  starva¬ 
tion  that  she  is  not  sick,  that  she  has  no  fever 
and  needs  no  food.  It  dare  not  go  into  the 
wretched  hovel  where  a  broken  hearted  mother 
weeps  above  the  only  treasure  she  had,  and 
the  only  solace  of  her  aching  days — her  little 
babe.  It  dare  not  go  to  her  and  say  the  child 
is  not  dead,  that,  in  fact,  she  never  had  a 
child — she  never  had  more  than  an  ideal,  and 
all  she  has  to  do  is  to  recall  her  ideal  senti¬ 
ment  and  she  will  be  happy. 

Look  at  this  man,  crushed,  bleeding,  every 
bone  in  his  body  broken,  unconscious,  breath¬ 
ing  out  his  last  breath  while  his  wife,  clad  in 
her  thin  dress,  and  with  her  pinched  cheeks, 
moans  and  croons  above  him  and  calls  aloud 
the  name  to  which  he  will  never  more  respond. 
Tell  me  a  Christian  Scientist  dare  go  to  the 
silent  crowd  standing  awe-struck  above  the 
mass  of  bleeding  flesh  and  broken  bones  and 
say  with  cheerful  and  vibrant  voice  that  the 
man  is  not  hurt,  he  is  not  bleeding,  not  a  bone 
of  him  is  broken,  he  has  never  fallen,  there 
has  been  no  accident.  A  Christian  Scientist 
dare  not  do  that  in  such  a  crowd.  If  the 
Christian  Scientist  did  dare  do  it  and  were  a 
man,  he  would  be  driven  from  the  midst  with 
blows  and  bootings ;  if  it  were  a  woman,  they 
would  mock  her  and  insult  her  as  a  disgrace  to 
that  sex  which  ought  to  stand  for  all  there  is 
of  love,  of  sympathy  and  tender  help. 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


33 


Christian  Science  is  not  only  a  system  of 
treason  and  betrayal,  it  is  the  most  monumen¬ 
tal  system  ever  invented  to  fool  the  people. 

It  fools  Christians  who  are  more  taken  up 
with  their  body  than  with  their  soul;  who 
know  more  about  the  word  of  man  than  the 
Word  of  God. 

It  fools  the  unsaved  because  it  substitutes 
the  cure  of  the  body  for  the  salvation  of  the 
soul,  and  makes  the  deliverance  of  the  body 
equivalent  to  the  redemption  of  the  soul.  It 
fools  the  unsaved  by  assuring  thern  that  they 
are  already  saved,  guaranteeing  their  security 
for  a  price  current  with  the  times. 

It  fools  people  generally  and  mainly  because 
it  comes  on  the  same  basis  as  any  other  patent 
medicine,  bringing  in  its  testimonials  as  evi¬ 
dence  of  cure,  appealing  to  that  which  is  ever 
the  most  quick  to  respond — the  hope  of  re¬ 
lief  from  physical  ills. 

It  fools  the  people  by  talking  about  religion, 
offering  its  book  as  materia  medica  and  turn¬ 
ing  its  treatment  into  the  exercise  of  a  paid 
dispensary. 

Christian  Science  is  a  false  pretence. 

It  pretends  to  be  spiritual  and  to  deny  the 
animal,  to  be  occupied  with  the  soul  and  not 
with  the  body,  and  then  finds  its  most  lucra¬ 
tive  field  in  the  realm  of  the  animal  and  the 
cure  of  the  body.  It  denies  matter,  and  builds 
churches  of  marble  and  granite.  It  denies 


34 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


matter,  and  prints  its  teachings  in  a  material 
book  and  sells  it  for  material  dollars..  It  de¬ 
nies  the  existence  of  evil,  and  one  of  its  most 
prominent  teachers  has  been  tried  for  error. 
It  denies  accident  or  possible  danger,  and  yet 
its  founder  was  removed  from  one  house  to 
another  in  a  special  car — one  locomotive  pre¬ 
ceding  the  train  and  another  following  to 
keep  the  track  clear.  It  denies  the  changes 
of  temperature,  and  its  founder  was  lifted  out 
of  her  carriage  carefully  wrapped  in  sealskin, 
so  it  is  reported,  and  borne  by  stalwart  arms 
into  the  building  from  which  she  has  never 
since  been  seen  to  emerge  alone.  It  denies 
death,  and  is  responsible  for  the  suggestion  of 
mental  assassination. 

Christian  Science  is  a  perversion  of  divine 
order. 

God  has  set  up  headship  in  man.  He  has 
set  it  up  in  the  family,  in  government,  and  in 
the  church.  In  the  public  assembly  of  the 
church  he  has  forbidden  a  woman  to  teach  or 
to  speak.  He  has  commanded  her  to.  keep 
silence.  Christian  Science  is  a  repudiation  of 
this  order.  Christian  Science  exhorts  a 
woman  to  break  the  divine  command  concern¬ 
ing  silence  and  teaching.  Christian  Science 
exists  because  a  woman  did  not  keep  silence, 
and  because  she  persisted  in  her  rebellious  de¬ 
termination  to  speak  and  to  teach.  Christian 
Science  is  distinctively  a  female  system.  It  is 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


35 


the  peculiar  invention  of  a  woman.  Its  teach¬ 
ers  and  healers  are  women.  It  has  in  it  here 
and  there  a  class  of  male  representatives. 
A  certain  witty  dean  once  said  that  society 
was  divided  into  three  classes,  males,  females 
and  priests.  Christian  Science  is  divided 
into  females  and  some  men  with  female  ten¬ 
dencies.  The  Devil  fooled  the  world  through 
the  first  woman,  he  is  now  trying  to  fool 
the  world  through  another  woman.  He  led 
it  into  sin  through  the  first  woman,  he  would 
lead  it  away  from  the  remedy  of  sin  through 
the  other  woman. 

Christian  Science  has  one  supreme  aim. 

Its  aim  is  to  take  away  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
alone  saviour  of  men.  It  denies  his  actual 
birth,  repudiates  him  as  the  Christ,  makes  him 
to  be  as  full  of  errors  as  other  mortals,  re¬ 
jects  the  atonement  of  the  cross,  says  he  never 
died,  never  was  buried  and  never  rose,  does 
not  exalt  his  name  above  every  name,  refuses 
to  bow  to  him  as  Lord  and  God,  teaches  that 
he  does  not  sit  upon  the  infinite  throne,  and 
that  he  is  not  in  heaven  at  all.  In  short,  it 
turns  his  body  into  an  apparition,  his  blood 
to  nothingness,  his  cross  to  a  myth,  his  death 
to  a  fiction,  his  burial  to  a  mockery,  and  him¬ 
self  to  a  personality  that  never  was  real  and 

no  longer  exists.  .  . 

Christian  Science  is  a  peril  of  perils. 

It  is  a  peril  to  the  health  and  security  of  a 


36 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


community.  It  is  a  peril  to  it  because  it  re¬ 
pudiates  the  system  of  medicine,  the  skill  of 
the  physician,  throws  the  sick  into  the  hands 
of  charlatans,  binds  them  up  in  the  bonds  of 
ignorance  or  fanaticism,  makes  them  a  disaster 
to  themselves  and  channels  of  contagion  and 
disease  to  others. 

It  is  a  peril  to  Christianity.  It  is  a  peril,  be¬ 
cause  it  puts  on  the  robes  of  Christian  pro¬ 
fession  and  hides  its  real  antagonism  under 
the  plea  of  a  higher  and  more  spiritual  con¬ 
cept. 

It  is  a  peril  to  Christianity,  because  it  re¬ 
peats  the  name  of  Christ,  wards  off  suspicion 
and  then,  slowly  but  systematically,  seeks  to 
deny  him. 

It  is  a  peril  to  Christianity,  because  it  quotes 
the  Bible  as  its  authority,  professes  to  be  its 
best  interpreter  and  then,  in  the  dark,  seeks, 
little  by  little,  to  wrench  it  loose  from  the 
place  of  faith  and  absolute  confidence. 

It  is  a  peril  to  the  Christian,  because  it 
talks  of  God  and  the  Father  and,  step  by 
step,  leads  the  Christian  to  see  that  God  is 
not  a  person,  and  Fatherhood  but  a  name. 

It  is  a  peril  to  the  Christian,  because  while 
it  talks  to  him  of  Christ,  it  leads  him  softly 
and  insensibly  away  from  Christ,  or  quite  be¬ 
yond  him,  where  he  is  his  own  saviour,  his 
own  Christ,  and  his  own  very  God. 

It  is  a  peril  to  the  Christian,  because  it  leads 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


37 


him  eventually  to  deny  the  Lord  who  bought 
him,  and  thus  brings  him  dangerously  near 
that  threshold  where  swift  destruction  falls 
on  all  who  finally  deny  him. 

It  is  a  peril  to  the  unsaved,  because  it  stupe¬ 
fies  him  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice,  closes  his 
eyes  to  mortal  danger,  cries  peace  when  there 
is  no  peace,  and  allows  him  to  plunge  head¬ 
long  into  a  hopeless  and  unredeemable 
eternity. 

Christian  Science  is  a  sign  of  the  times. 

It  is  a  sign  of  that  time  of  which  our  Lord 
forewarned  when  he  said  false  teachers  would 
come  in  his  name  and  deceive  many,  doing 
many  wonderful  works  and  deceiving,  if  it 
were  possible,  the  very  elect;  that  time  of 
which  an  apostle  warns  when  he  said  the 
church  would  give  heed  to  teachers  who 
should  turn  them  away  from  the  truth  and 
turn  them  to  fables;  that  time  of  which  an 
apostle  warned  when  he  said  it  would  be  nec¬ 
essary  to  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  once 
for  all  delivered  to  the  saints ;  that  time  when 
the  professing  church  would  listen  to  wander¬ 
ing  spirits  and  doctrines  of  demons ;  that  time 
when  spiritual  apprehension  would  be  so  low 
that  evil  and  false  doctrine  would  find  easy 
entrance  to  its  midst;  when  the  hope  of  the 
church,  the  Coming  of  the  Lord  would  be  set 
aside,  and  the  apostles  who  proclaimed  it  de¬ 
clared  to  be  mistaken ;  in  short,  that  time  of 


38 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


which  the  Son  of  God  specifically  warned 
when  he  announced  that  the  faith  would  dis¬ 
appear  from  the  earth,  and  that  its  waning  and 
absence  would  be  the  threshold  and  witness 
of  his  coming. 

Christian  Science  is  a  sign  that  the  Coming 
of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh. 

It  is  a  witness  that  the  forces  of  heaven  and 
the  forces  of  hell  are  gathering  for  the  battle 
of  the  great  day  of  God  Almighty;  that  Satan 
is  getting  himself  together  for  his  last  des¬ 
perate  act ;  that  in  this  bold  and  yet  subtle  at¬ 
tempt  to  counterfeit  Christianity  through 
Christian  Science,  he  is  paving  the  way  to  set 
up  the  man  of  sin,  the  son  of  perdition,  he  who 
is  the  final  incarnation  of  himself;  that  all 
things  are  moving  forward  to  that  moment 
when  the  Son  of  God  will  secretly  and  sud¬ 
denly  withdraw  his  church  of  regenerated  be¬ 
lievers  from  the  world  to  himself  and  then, 
when  the  evil  is  fully  headed  up,  will  descend 
with  the  church  in  outbreaking  indignation 
and  wrath  upon  Satan,  his  confederates,  and 
all  who  have  been  seduced  and  entangled  by 
him. 

Christian  Science  is  a  witness  of  all  these 
things  and  is,  therefore,  a  warning  to  every 
spiritual  mind,  a  cry  to  every  hearing  ear. 

As  one  set  for  the  defence  of  the  Gospel  and 
called  upon  to  declare  the  whole  counsel  of 
God,  I  lift  my  voice  and  word  against  it. 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


39 


I  warn  that  it  is  a  pestilence,  a  fever,  a 
miasma,  a  poison.  It  is  Satan’s  masterpiece, 
Satan’s  disguise,  and  the  sure  destruction  of 
every  unwary  soul  who  yields  to  it. 

In  describing  it  and  warning  against  it, 
every  symbol  of  evil  may  be  used,  every  meta¬ 
phor  of  iniquity  mixed,  all  the  collocation  of 
terms  known  to  human  language  exhausted, 
and  then,  when  this  has  been  done,  not  enough 
will  have  been  said,  nor  emphasis  sufficiently 
given,  to  paint  it,  picture  it,  denounce,  and 
warn  against  it. 

I  warn  you  to  shun  it.  I  exhort  you  to  flee 
from  it.  Refuse  to  admit  it  into  your  house. 
If  it  comes  in  the  name  of  friendship,  do  not 
receive  it.  Refuse  absolutely  to  discuss  it  or 
hold  controversy  with  it,  any  more  than  you 
would  clasp  hands  with  a  leper  or  lie  in  his 
foul  and  fetid  embrace. 

I  call  upon  you  to  turn  from  this  evil  thing 
which  smiles  and  speaks  under  its  breath  and, 
while  it  whispers,  steals  away  that  name  which 
is  above  every  name,  the  name  which  guaran¬ 
tees  forgiveness  of  sins,  opens  the  close  shut 
grave,  brings  immortality  to  light,  illumines 
the  way  to  heaven  and  the  throne  of  God,  gives 
peace  here  and  glory  there ;  the  name  over 
which  angels  sing,  before  which  angels  con¬ 
fess,  and  at  whose  mention  the  whole  universe 
must,  finally,  bend  the  knee — the  name  which 
is  above  every  name,  whether  named  in 


40 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


heaven,  or  in  earth,  or  under  the  earth — the 
name  of  Jesus. 

Turn,  I  pray  you,  from  that  pestilential  and 
shameful  thing  which  would  blot  out  the 
name,  the  person,  the  work,  the  present  priestly 
office,  and  the  coming  glory  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

Turn  before  the  Lord  himself  descends  in 
judgment  on  those  who  have  not  exalted  his 
name  above  every  name,  and  who  have  not 
owned  him  as  Lord  and  God. 

Turn  from  this  thing  which  calls  itself 
Christian  Science,  is  neither  scientific  nor 
Christian  and,  beneath  its  indecent  defiance. of 
science  and  its  treacherous  betrayal  of  Christ, 
conceals  the  face  of  Antichrist  and  the  form 
of  Satan. 


By  JOSEPH  A.  SEISS,  D.D. 


Lectures  on  the  Apocalypse 

The  Matchless  Commentary 

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prominent  Bible  teacher  writes :  *  It  thrills  me."  Fifth  edition, 
ninth  thousand.  Handsomely  bound  in  red  cloth,  12  mo., 
325  pages,  postpaid  .  .  .  .  .  31  .OO 

Christian  Science  in  the  Light 
of  Holy  Scripture 

A  powerful  analysis  of  one  of  the  greatest  religious  perils  of 
the  day.  Third  edition.  Cloth,  441  pages,  postpaid.  $  1 .50 

Theosophy  or  Christianity:  Which? 

A  comparison,  with  an  introduction  by  Rev.  F.  DeWitt 
Talmage,  D.  D.  An  X-Ray  treatment  clearly  showing  the 
slimy  origin  of  Theosophy,  its  foul  character  and  its  dismal  out¬ 
look,  in  striking  contrast  to  the  beauty  and  glorious  triumph  of 
the  Christian’s  faith.  Second  edition.  .  .  20c 

Can  Morality  Save  Us? 

A  powerful,  logical  argument  of  unique  interest.  Second 
edition . IOC 

Jericho  Theology 

A  brilliant  and  powerful  arraignment  of  the  "New  Theology* 
men.  . 1  Oc 

Thinking  Above  What  is  Written 

or  ihe  exaltation  of  human  wisdom  above  the  word  of  God 

lOc 

The  New  Religion 

or  Athenian  Culture  and  Christianity  ,  .  1  Oc 

The  DeviPs  Righteousness 

or  Cain  come  to  town  again  ....  IOC 

CHARLES  C,  COOK  -  150  Nassau  Street,  New  York 


